- November 18, 2024
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Someone called 911 May 7 after seeing a man get out of a car at the intersection of Whiteview Parkway and Belle Terre Parkway and spray pepper spray in another driver’s face.
A deputy drove out and didn’t see anything, but minutes later, another man called 911 and said his brother had just been sprayed with pepper spray, according to the deputy’s report.
The pepper spray victim, Toze Reis, 35, said he was driving east on Whiteview Parkway behind a black Dodge Ram pickup with Arkansas tags when the driver started brake-checking him “for some unknown reason,” according to the report.
Reis said he got angry at the pickup driver and flipped him off.
When both drivers stopped at the light at Belle Terre Parkway, Reis said, the pickup driver got out of his truck and walked over to him. There was an argument, he said, and then the other man pulled out a can of pepper spray, sprayed him in the face and drove off.
Reis declined to file criminal charges, according to the deputy’s report, and said he was “not that type of guy.”
A few hours later, the deputy saw a truck that matched the description of the one Reis said the pepper-spray wielder was driving.
The deputy conducted a traffic stop, and the driver, 34-year-old Michael Turner, said he knew why the deputy stopped him, and wanted to explain his side of the story.
Turner said he Reis’ silver car flew up on his tail, and he tapped his brakes to slow down, thinking the car would swerve around him.
Instead, he said, the driver tailgated him, flashing his lights, flipping his middle finger and motioning for Turner to pull over.
Turner’s wife and son were in the car, and h thought of having his wife call 911, but thought that would be useless if he didn’t have the aggressive driver’s tag number, he said.
So at the stoplight, he got out and walked toward the rear of the car to see the plate. Then, he said, the other driver, Reis, got out of his car and approached him, screaming and yelling.
He said he sprayed Reis with pepper spray to give himself time to leave the scene.
Neither man decided to pursue any charges against the other.
